2017 All Along the Hightower: Princes Kept Their View
- Thread starter Mugsy's Jock
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At least one team involved in talks with free-agent LB Dont'a Hightower is now convinced that he'll return to the Patriots.
PartyFowl™ Nashville @PartyFowlNash
Hey @zeus30hightower! Sign with the @Titans, we'll throw in #NashvilleHotChicken for the length of the contract
Tony Veland came out of Nebraska (2 titles) in the NFL draft in 1996, was drafted by the Broncos, won the first of two consecutive titles for Denver in 1997....and then didn't make the team the next year.
OK so who saw this coming???? If he goes to the Jets for marginally more money, that would be a total shock. They are in no position to win in the near future.
Jason La CanforaVerified account @JasonLaCanfora 10s10 seconds ago
Jets and Pats appear to be leading the pack to sign LB Dont'a Hightower but several others monitoring closely as well
Jason La CanforaVerified account @JasonLaCanfora 10s10 seconds ago
Jets and Pats appear to be leading the pack to sign LB Dont'a Hightower but several others monitoring closely as well
If he truly wanted to get NE worried, though, wouldn't he go to a team with a chance to compete?
The splurges and impulse overpays have come and gone. That's NFL FA. This is what, day 4? Things get reasonable from here, on both sides. Hightower obviously didn't get any to come heavy at him and price him out of NE. He seems to be in touch with BB about what's on the table. If the Jets want to blow them out of the water, well, knock yourself out guys and keep on making Jetsie type moves. They cleared out the mess and appeared to be starting over, as they should. Them overpaying Hightower to steal him from Pats is roughly equivalent to when the Yankees signed Ellsbury.
Michael LombardiVerified account @mlombardiNFL 2h2 hours ago
Hightower turns 27 today is still looking for the deal that resembles Collins and Kuechly--at least in guarantees. For DH, ts about the deal
Hightower turns 27 today is still looking for the deal that resembles Collins and Kuechly--at least in guarantees. For DH, ts about the deal
If he goes to the Jets he better demand hazard pay, with that offense he'll never get off the field.
Jets aren't competing in the next few years, so I'm not sure why they'd even be interested. If he does leave, there are worse places from a competitive standpoint, that's for sure. My guess is agent posturing, but who knows.
As with Revis, dont underestimate the Jets' desire to win the all-important Back Page of the Tabloids Bowl by inflicting damage on NE, even it means inflicting damage on themselves.
Rich CiminiVerified account @RichCimini 2m2 minutes ago
Confirmed that #Jets are showing interest in Pats LB Dont'a Hightower, as @JasonLaCanfora said. He's No. 2 in ESPN free-agent rankings.
Because they are dumb and can more about tweaking New England than building a winner
Holy shit. If Hightower ends up with less guaranteed money than both of them I'm going to be amazed. There was a lot of talk (and i perpetuated it) that he was going to blow past Kuechly.
Jets being interested makes sense if you are looking to change the culture tho. Belichick has said that Hightower is a guy who does everything you ask, is a leader on the field and in the locker room and the only question is where you play him.
If I'm trying to get my team to change what it represents—me, me, me—signing a guy like DH makes a lot of sense. And I overpay to make it happen every time.
Doesn't hurt that it takes a bite out of my rival.
If I'm trying to get my team to change what it represents—me, me, me—signing a guy like DH makes a lot of sense. And I overpay to make it happen every time.
Doesn't hurt that it takes a bite out of my rival.
Makes sense, but does that sort of "culture change" work in football, where careers are so short? I could see it if nyj was close and just needed that guy " to show them how to win," but that's not the Jets.
I think BB will pay him big market guaranteed $$$, but over relatively few years to avoid dead money. They have the cap room to pay in today dollars.
Wouldn't a guy leaving a championship team for a loser team to make a little more $ be an example of me me me guy (the other being a guy trying to pad stats).
I think Belichick is going to beat any offer that isn't north of 13-14 million/year with guaranteed around 35 million, but he's waiting it out because he doesn't think it will get that high. With all their cap space, the dearth of FA talent at the position, and their obviously being in contention the next few seasons, I think he overpays. It will be similar to how McCourty played out.
I'm unclear why the Jets would show interest now, but not before, though maybe it's a stealth job or something. Still think it's agent posturing.
Edit - I spaced Brown, so there is an alternative to Hightower out there.
I'm unclear why the Jets would show interest now, but not before, though maybe it's a stealth job or something. Still think it's agent posturing.
Edit - I spaced Brown, so there is an alternative to Hightower out there.
I think High's market just isn't as big as many (perhaps including him) had assumed. Pats fans focus on his leadership qualities and the huge plays he made in the last two Super Bowls. But High has a lot of limitations as well that probably work against a monster contract. He isn't a particularly good coverage LB, especially in man, and that figures to get worse as he continues to age and slow down. He also isn't a sideline-to-sideline guy who is always around the ball: His tackle numbers are really, really low compared to top ILBs like Wagner, Kuechly, etc and have also been trending downward. He doesn't force a lot of fumbles or make a lot of interceptions for that position, with the Ryan strip sack really an anomaly. And of course he has been banged up a lot and is now entering an age range when a lot of players in that position have declined fairly precipitously.
In the end, High is basically a perfect cog in BB/Patricia's do-your-job machine: His strengths are getting the defense lined up, always filling the right gap and taking care of his own responsibility, and having the versatility to line up in a variety of places and to handle a bunch of different duties. But he isn't a big playmaking star and other teams may reasonably wonder whether his more understated qualities will be worth as much in a different defensive system.
In the end, High is basically a perfect cog in BB/Patricia's do-your-job machine: His strengths are getting the defense lined up, always filling the right gap and taking care of his own responsibility, and having the versatility to line up in a variety of places and to handle a bunch of different duties. But he isn't a big playmaking star and other teams may reasonably wonder whether his more understated qualities will be worth as much in a different defensive system.
No. He would be a guy maximizing his earnings in a tough business. He can then play for the Jets, set a stellar example, put the team above individual stats, and generally do everything he can to help the team. But that's all after he gets paid. He would be a guy who prioritizes his earnings over playing for a winning team, but that is very different from being a "me me me" guy.
I keep thinking this thread could just as easily have been named for this song:
Watch Hightower gets shortened to Watchtower, get it?
Watch Hightower gets shortened to Watchtower, get it?
High is actually at Florham Park on a visit per La Canfora.
Dont'a Hightower is visiting the Jets. Meeting supposed to wrap up on Monday. Patriots still very interested. Other teams keeping tabs.
Dont'a Hightower is visiting the Jets. Meeting supposed to wrap up on Monday. Patriots still very interested. Other teams keeping tabs.
@JasonLaCanfora
Do FAs show medicals? If so, it makes you wonder how bad his might look if that's all he's getting.
Almost feel like Bill should throw another cool million his way to make it $11M just on principle.
Almost feel like Bill should throw another cool million his way to make it $11M just on principle.
For BB, not throwing in the extra million is the very definition of "on principle."
I don't think $10 mil for an inside linebacker is at all embarassing---Only Kuechly gets materially above that among inside linebackers. http://overthecap.com/position/inside-linebacker/ I don't think many teams would think of Hightower as an edge rusher, which is where the money really is at LB.
OK, maybe Devonta Freeman now thinks of Hightower that way...
OK, maybe Devonta Freeman now thinks of Hightower that way...
Agreed. That part was a joke. I just meant that while Bill may rejoice in making the Charlie Casserly's and Jets of the world look foolish, he seems to place a fairly high value on not antagonizing players through the contract negotiation process. It's not perfect. Wilfork in the 2013 offseason is pretty much the last (and only?) time I remember a player being outright angry about a seemingly unfair offer coming his way – and whether because Vince went out and saw what other teams were willing to offer or because Bill upped his offer, they settled that.
Plus, Reiss just wrote a column about Hightower and whether athletes want to or should come back to teams they don't feel value them highly enough – saying that in some cases, it's actually easier to take the same money from another team because it stings a little less.
At any rate, there are a lot of dynamics at play in negotiations to retain highly valued members of the team.
I can't figure out how much Maryland actually played for his first Hurricane title team (1987).
Also:
If the Jets land Hightower, they might win four games next season instead of four. Or maybe, just maybe, they might prevent Miami from going 8-8.
Well, Vinatieri was a pretty well documented case of a player being frustrated by the way BB works. I'll look for the link when I get on a laptop, but he was quoted recently as saying that he left basically because he felt they had nickel and dimed him and gotten a lot of value, but wouldn't pay market at the end. Maybe they learned a lesson from that and have changed course.
Sure, but that's not the issue. Would losing Hightower mean the difference between HFA deep into the playoffs?
The cap has gone up 15% since Kuechly and Wagner signed those deals. Kuechly was also signed while still under contract for two more years. There was talk before free agency that Hightower was going to reset the market for inside linebackers. Collins got 4/50M and $12M each for the first two years. While it's not embarrassing, it would be surprising (to me at least) that he would not get more than $10M.
If we get Hightower, Smokin Jay, and draft some guys that can cover and also add depth to the O-line ....7-7-2 is in the conversation
Hightower actually solves some problems for the Jets but we don't have vast sums of money. They'll cut Harris I guess, so it's a huge upgrade and the marginal cost wouldn't be severe. But they should probably cut Harris and not sign an expensive FA.
I just meant from the Jets perspective, what sense does it make to spend a ton of money on Hightower? Sure it would hurt the Pats to lose him.
Even if they just bid him up, they've helped themselves and the rest of the league... I'm not sure why he doesn't have an offer somewhere in the neighborhood of Collins (excepting Collins got the premium for agreeing to stay in Siberia).
As others have said, at a minimum Hightower can bring leadership and help set a tone. I'm sure they also expect to be competing towards the end of his contract.
I don't know the Jets cap situation specifically but I wouldn't hesitate to bring him in if I was a GM of a rebuilding team.
Pats move: Don't be pricks, sign DH to reasonable money+, (the sweetener) win/win for everyone.